tenebrae : darkness
by bonnibelbubblegum
Summary: "You have to find the book. Once you do, read it and learn everything you can from it. We need your help. Lapis is dead. Heart is in a coma. Topaz is hallucinating. The Dex Holders have been betrayed. Burn this." AU, Pokespe.
1. Prologue

**the _elementum_ chronicles**

**book one: **_**tenebrae**_

**prologue**

**

* * *

**

_"I have seen you three standing outside the temple, sometimes, simply gazing up at the statues. _

_Your eyes tell me of your origin. You're not of Celestic, as everyone thinks. You're Ayumu children._

_I would know, as I am one too._

_As of this, and the aura inside of you all, we've decided to trust you._

_There's not much time._

_You have to go find the book. It's hidden in the darkest shadows of Sinnoh, and can only be discovered by the light of the new moon on the sixteenth month._

_Find it. Take it, read it and learn everything you can from it. Once you have, put it somewhere safe in another region for the next person to find it, and then find us._

_We need your help._

_Lapis is dead. Heart is in a coma. Topaz is hallucinating. The Dex Holders have been betrayed._

_Burn this."_


	2. I

**the _elementum_ chronicles**

**book one: **_**tenebrae**_

**Onyx**

**I**

* * *

_"We need your help." _

Was this some kind of joke? _"We need your help." _For as long as I could remember, no one would even want to look at us, much less go about asking for our help as if it were a matter of life and death_. _Part of me thinks that it's just a joke played on us by one of the village kids, but the other part wants me to believe it, believe this guy, whoever he is, and find out what the heck is going on, and who betrayed the Dex Holders.

The Pokedex Holders.

Who hasn't heard of them? After three years, there isn't a child in the whole Pokearth who doesn't know who they are. They've saved the world more than one time. Everyone calls Red the leader, although he claims he's not worthy of the title. Psh, yeah right. I admit, I kinda envy him. He's got it all- the fame, the Pokemon, the friends- everything I've always wanted. Sure, Peridot is my best friend, and my team is one of the best around, but I feel like I haven't done anything with my life. While Red's off protecting Legendary Pokemon or whatever, I'm stuck loafing around the house watching TV and eating junk food. And I'm positive that the Elders will never let me leave.

Opal, the Head Elder's granddaughter, told me that they were acting under the orders of the Pokemon Champion, Cynthia. For some reason, Cynthia thought Peridot and I might pose some kind of threat to the world if we were allowed outside the town. As if. The only threat we would pose would be to her position as reigning champ. But she has her reasons, whatever they are, so instead of battling our way through the Gyms and to the League, Opal, Peridot and I were stuck training together at the foot of Mount Coronet, hoping one day we will be allowed out.

But I knew we would never leave. Opal's such an optimist, saying that any day now we'll be leaving Celestic. I didn't even know why she was still here. Besides being the Head Elder's granddaughter, she's also the younger sister of Cynthia, something she's surprisingly not proud of. All the other kids are jealous of her because they think she gets all these benefits because of her sister, but Opal believes that she'll forever be stuck in Cynthia's shadow- the one thing that she's not going to be optimistic about.

When thinking about Opal, I realize that you don't even know who I am, or what exactly I'm talking about.

My name is Onyx. It's the only thing left from my old life, and I don't have a last name, if you're wondering. I lived in Celestic Town, Sinnoh, my whole life, and I was raised to not ask questions about the real world. My only true friends in the town are Peridot and Opal Fiore, the only kids who stood up for me after Jame Liddell began to pick on me for not having a real family.

And it's my fault that they're dead.

For some reason, I've been able to communicate with the dead. Not something your parents really want to flaunt off to the world, but I remember them having debates about whether or not to send me to Lavender Town in the Kanto region to study there- wherever this so call "Lavender Town" or "Kanto" is. But the Elders denied them from leaving Celestic Town, and the night that the men attacked my parents in fear of their families' safety was the same night my true powers were unleashed, killing all the men, including my parents. I'm not supposed to remember these things- I was too young, only two or three. But how could anyone, no matter who they were or what age they were, forget the burning memory of their parents' death in their minds?

Peridot and Opal were my strength during those days. They were outcasts of the village too- Miss Hyacinth's class was in an uproar after Peridot freaked out during recess and sent a mass of vines sprawling from the earth and nearly choking one of the boys who was picking on him. He had looked so scared- and parents demanded for his expulsion afterward. And Opal had dragged herself into the mess by trying to defend him, and the boys turned on her instead. And they had somehow managed to find themselves hanging from the flagpole in front of the school, with Opal glaring up at them from the ground, her sapphire eyes burning with hatred. She hadn't even touched them. Thinking about this, I suddenly had an epiphany. The Elders fear us for our _powers._

_Powers_. If you asked any other kid in the world, any normal kid, if they would like to have super powers, like to summon spirits, or to control the earth, or to hurt your enemies with just the flick of the hand, sure, maybe they would like that kind of thing. But for us, it's a burden. For us, supernatural powers means not being able to fit in, feeling the guilt of your parents' death on your shoulders, always being the shadow of your older sibling over you. For us, it's the worst thing that could ever happen to us, something we wouldn't wish upon our worse enemy.

Wishes. Opal's always had this habit for wishing. She has tons of four leaf clovers stuck on her wall with tape, and who knows how many eyelashes she's blown away, how many of the coins that sit in the bottom of the well belong to her, how many wishbones she's forced us to break with her, or how many dandelions she's spread. I find it odd, but she's seriously religious about this kind of thing, and she thought that if we wish hard enough, we would be able to leave.

That started eight years ago. Now she's fifteen, I'm sixteen and Peridot is fourteen. It was on Opal's birthday, November 11, when it all began.

Peridot found it.

* * *

I'm not even sure how he saw it. It was a tiny piece of paper, folded in half seven times, and stuck with tape to the back of Opal's mirror. But then again, it's Peridot. He's not exactly normal, you know.

"How did you... How?" Opal asked, stunned as Peridot pushed back her vanity into place, holding a piece of paper up for us to see. "I've never seen that before, and I'm constantly checking behind the vanity for anything I dropped!" Opal wasn't exactly a neat freak, and was known to search her room for something for half an hour before realizing it was in her hand or pocket.

"Dunno," Peridot murmured, flopping onto Opal's bed. He held up the paper to the light, and then without a word, began unfolding it.

"Hey, Per," I said, frowning. "Don't bother. It's probably a trick by Jame and Lizelle." Peridot took the nearest book he could get and began trying to straighten it. "...Per?"

"I don't think so, Onyx." Peridot didn't look up at me or Opal, but his eyebrows furrowed as he read the writing inside. "You know Jame and Lizelle would never come here, unless it's order of the Head Elder. And besides, this sounds serious." Opal sauntered over and snatched the paper from his hand. He frowned at her.

"Oh, come on, Per," she said, rolling her eyes. "It can't be that-" She stared at the paper, stunned. I took that as an opportunity to steal it from her. My friends were frozen in their positions, staring ahead with wide eyes as I read the words that could change my life.

Not. "You guys, how could you believe this? This is _so_ fake. Why on earth would the DexHolders, the _DEXHOLDERS_, with their fearless leader Red, need _our _help? Us, three kids with no proper training and no idea what the outside world is like?" But Opal and Peridot just stared at me.

Finally, Opal broke the silence. "Onyx, this can't be a lie, it just can't. It may be our only chance to leave Celestic Town. And what if whoever sent this note is telling the truth? Someone out their needs our help!" Her eyes filled with tears. "Onyx, please."

I sighed. "Why don't we tell the Elders? I'm sure that they could send someone suitable-"

"No way." Opal and I turned, stunned, to face Peridot. His green eyes were dull, as if the life had simply faded away from them. His hand was clenched in a fist, and he was shaking. "Opal is right. I don't know about you, Onyx, but I need out." Peridot stood up, and we flinched back. He seemed different. Was there really a dark side to our friend that we didn't know about?

I glanced at both their faces. Peridot's eyes were still dull, and Opal hovered by him protectively. We all knew what I would do, so there wasn't a point... "I guess we leave tonight."

"Tonight? But that's when they close the gates!" Opal said, alarmed. "And they have guards, Onyx! Order of my sister!"

"Would you rather leave in the full day, when everyone can see you? No, we leave by night, and our Pokemon can help." Our Pokemon actually belonged to the other kids, smuggled in before they got their license, and then abandoned when they were thought weak. No, we knew better. We took them in and raised them. They could take care of anyone else's easily.

"I guess we need time to prepare..." Opal gazed out the window toward the sun, which was still high in the sky. "And a plan, of course."

"Then let's go," Peridot said. His eyes no longer were dull, as if hope had sparked in them. "Food, water, maybe extra clothing, PokeBalls, first aid... Anything you can think of, Opal. But keep it light."

"We'll meet by the Mount Coronet entrance at sundown, then." They nodded, and I turned to leave. "But I hope you're right, and we really are important, and this is not just another joke to send us back to misery."

* * *

As the sun set, we gathered around the foot of Mount Coronet, our backpacks slung over our shoulders and PokeBalls in place. We stared up nervously at the top of the mountain, and I could hear Opal whisper a prayer for our safety.

"It'll be okay, Opal." The sound of Peridot's voice in the silence was odd. It sounded strangely foreign, for some reason. "Oh, and happy birthday."

Opal giggled nervously. "Happy birthday, huh? We'll see if it's so happy after all."

A yell from the village signaled someone had noticed we weren't in our houses by lights-out. We glanced at each other.

"Now?"

"Now."

And we plunged into the darkness.


End file.
